The Frequency of Affixes and Affixed Words in Japanese Senior High School English Textbooks: A Corpus Study

Abstract

　　It is important for language learners to use morphological knowledge to improve their vocabulary. This study analyzes Japanese senior high school English textbooks as a major source for learning English vocabulary at senior high schools and examines how much exposure to affixes and affixed words the textbooks provide for learners. A corpus consisting of English Communication textbooks for senior high school was analyzed to extract affixes and affixed words. Compared to junior high school textbooks, the senior high school textbooks introduced a wider variety of prefixes and suffixes, with much higher frequency. However, while students may learn a small number of high-frequency affixes with various word types through simply reading the textbooks, the textbooks alone may not be sufficient to learn the majority of prefixes and suffixes. Therefore, explicit teacher instruction is required to improve learners’ morphological knowledge. Senior high school English teachers may utilize the frequency information provided in this study in order to determine when and how each affix should be taught.